Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Rutgers (Game 1)
Players Mentioned
Softball Splits with Rutgers in Thursday Twinbill
April 16, 2009 | Softball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Taking a respite from the Ivy League season before the weekend series against Penn, the Princeton softball team split with Rutgers Thursday afternoon, winning 6-2 in the opener before dropping the nightcap 8-4.
Kathryn Welch continued her stellar offensive performance this season, going 4 for 7 on the day, also picking up a walk. When the Tigers (13-15) won, she hit a second-inning two-run home run, her fifth of the season, to help them along. When the Tigers lost, Welch still played well, going 3 for 4 with a double. Welch upped her average to .430.
Welch's home run was part of a six-run effort over the first two innings that bolstered Jamie Lettire (6-5) in the circle. Kristin Arguedas also picked up a pair of RBIs, and Collette Abbott added a run-scoring single.
Lettire allowed five hits and two walks, striking out four while she and her teammates at the plate ran out to the 6-0 lead. Rutgers scored an unearned run in the fourth and an earned run in the seventh after starting with a leadoff single, but Lettire allowed no more.
Rutgers (16-25) wouldn't be held down in the second game, jumping on Michelle Tolfa (7-9) early. The Scarlet Knights had a 4-0 lead after two and countered three Princeton runs in the third with three of their own in the bottom half of that inning to regain a 7-3 margin. Princeton hurt its cause by stranding seven runners over the last three innings and nine on the game.
Princeton will have one more non-league doubleheader, next Wednesday at Class of 1895 Field against Lehigh, but will try to cut into Cornell's three-game lead in the Ivy South with a four-game set at Penn Saturday and Sunday. Both doubleheaders in Philadelphia will begin at 12:30 p.m.